Five years ago, Jake Olson would have given anything to just sit in the stands and watch another college football game.

While that goal will never be realized, a greater and considerably more improbable one has come to life for the 18-year-old California native.

Born with retinoblastoma, a cancerous tumor in the retina, Olson had his left eye removed when he was just 10 months old. He was able to maintain vision in his right eye until the age of 12, but a variety of procedures to save it proved unsuccessful, and that one had to be taken out as well.

An avid fan of Southern Cal football, Olson said his No. 1 goal before surgery to remove his remaining eye was to watch his beloved Trojans in action as often as he could his sight left him. His wish eventually made its way to then-Trojans head coach Pete Carroll, who gave Olson and his family access to practices and games in the weeks leading up his operation.

“There were nights of crying and stressful times when I couldn’t get the thought of going blind out of my psyche,” Olson told the Los Angeles Times. “But every time I was up at SC or talking to one of the players or just being around, it was pure fun. And, truthfully, pure peace.”

When Olston enrolled at Orange Lutheran High School, he spent his first two years in the stands during Lancers football games. He enjoyed that time, but something was missing.

So in 2012, he floated the idea of becoming a long snapper to Lutheran coach Chuck Petersen. Olson felt the position didn’t require him to be able to see the ball or the movement of opponents.

The coach wasn’t particularly open to the idea at first.

“I didn’t want to kill the kid’s spirit, so I just said ‘Oh, OK,’ and thought I’ll probably never have to hear about this again,” Petersen told the L.A. Times.

But despite the numerous roadblocks in front of him, Olson plowed through, eventually landing the job. Though he did require help when taking the field and getting lined up, he had no trouble mastering the position’s remaining tasks.

While that would have provided a nice ending to this feel-good story, Olson wasn’t content on having his football career conclude at the high school level.

With a 4.3 grade-point average and an assortment of extracurricular activities – including a published, self-help memoir entitled “Open Your Eyes,” which was released in 2014 – Olson had more than met the academic standards needed to gain acceptance to Southern Cal.

While enrolling at the university was “a dream come true,” there was another aspiration, one many likely would have thought to be impossible.

With the help of the Swim With Mike scholarship, which is awarded annually to physically challenged athletes, Olson eventually secured a walk-on spot with the team he grew up cheering for.

Though a timetable hasn’t been set for when he will take the field, current Trojan head coach Steve Sarkisian said Olson’s day is coming.

“When the timing’s right, I’ll make that call,” he told the LA Times.

Until then, Olson helps his team on the practice field. Working in a live drill for the first time Sept. 23, Sarkisian called Olson’s initial collegiate snap “perfect.”

No matter what Olson’s official role ends up being for the Trojans, Sarkisian said the impact the young man  has made will have a long-standing positive effect on everyone associated with the program.

“I think it puts a lot of things into perspective for a lot of people around here, that life’s pretty good,” he said. “When you’re having a bad day and you see that guy go out there and snap the ball and do it the way he did, it’s pretty inspiring.”